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"The face of the operation is Briatore (referred to exclusively in the film by his colleagues and angry, chanting detractors as "Flavio"), an anthropomorphic radish who spends most of his time at QPR plotting to fire all of the managers."

At press time, Harbaugh had sent Michigan’s athletic department an envelope containing a heavily annotated seating chart, a list of the 63,000 seat views he had found unsatisfactory, and a glowing 70-page report on section 25, row 12, seat 9, which he claimed is “exactly what the great sport of football is all about.”

Elite 11 Updates: Peters Performing Well, Probably

Ah, the Elite 11, when a group of more than 11 of the nation's best quarterbacks gather for a camp in which a handful of throws will be analyzed to death. There's usually something of a disconnect between how the recruiting analysts and the camp counselors rank the performers. This year doesn't appear to be different. After Monday's opening session, Scout's Brandon Huffman named Michigan commit Brandon Peters among the five quarterbacks who stood out to him:

Was one of the most consistent passers all morning. Was just hot from the get-go on day one. Looked athletic and threw the ball with very little effort. The Michigan commit really dropped the ball into the basket for receivers and it looks like the Wolverines have a lot to be excited about.

Finally Brandon Peters was one of the guys that multiple analysts were buzzing about and his upside is crazy considering he's had limited quarterback training and he has elite athleticism that shows up on the basketball court.

Partway through the camp, however, Peters isn't on the Elite 11 rankings list. (He's far from the only notable missing: five-star FSU commit Malik Henry didn't crack the list, either.) Peters still has time to make a move; regardless, he's been impressive to onlookers.

Meanwhile, Peters is also keeping an eye on recruiting, per 247's Steve Wiltfong:

"They told me they had heard I was pretty fast, and I told them I'd run a 4.3," Washington recalls. "And they were like 'we don't believe you.'

"So I just said, OK, I'll run one for you right now outside. Let's go."

That story made the signing day press conference and will hopefully be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

It is likely to be one on a slow burn. Washington is a project. He is projected by just about everyone to be a cornerback in college, but—as is often the case with super athletes—he played quarterback in high school. After a senior-year transfer from Texas, Washington walked into a Alabama state power at Pratville and immediately won the starting QB job. As a result all of his DB film is underclassman stuff from Texas. Also he is 170 pounds. It's going to take some time.

Even so there's a major disconnect between Washington's recruiting profile and his high school exploits. Prattville made the 7A* state championship game with Washington at the helm, rushing for 1200 yards at a Denard-esque 7.9 YPC. His passing numbers are pretty good, too: 61%, 1800 yards, 19 TD, 5 INT. He was mentioned as a (fringe) candidate for Alabama's Mr. Football award, won the Montgomery Advertiser's 6A-7A player of the year award… and nobody ranks him in, or really even near, the top ten players in the state when it comes to college potential. He does have to switch positions, but you'd think a guy who ripped through the best competition the state of Alabama had to offer would get a bit of respect even if it was as an "athlete."

Washington is certainly that, running sub-4.5 40s as an underclassman out of Clute, Texas. By the time Harbaugh sat down with him his go-to number was 4.38. Whether that is fake or not, his ability to separate himself—quickly—from defensive backs in Alabama's highest division leaps off his tape. A coach who played against him last year:

"The main thing that stands out about Washington is just how athletic he is," Dukes said. "He was dangerous whenever he got outside the pocket so that was our main focus. We wanted to keep him from doing that. … He can really run. Being athletic at quarterback is a bonus and hopeful, but it's not expected. If your quarterback is shifty and able to run like him it's a huge bonus, but at corner it's a must. You have got to have a great athlete there and I think he is that."

ESPN praises him as a "gifted athlete," repeatedly notes that he "demonstrates he can both run away from defenders and catch people from behind," and says he's a "general athlete that looks comfortable in whatever role he is asked to play."

The transition to corner is the holdup in his rankings. There is little scouting on him for obvious reasons. He's 170 pounds. He's been mostly an offensive player the last couple years. His DB film from his Texas days looks rough to my amateur eye. Touch The Banner also has the quintessential scout-guy question about him:

I question whether Washington has the hips to be a big-time corner. He's a little bit stiff in the upper and lower body, and he does not transition out of a backpedal very well. As one might expect of someone who's primarily a cornerback, he also lacks tackling technique and doesn't pack much of a punch. Some of these things are technique issues - and strength and conditioning issues - that can be helped with some time in college.

Overall, I look at Washington and I see Jeremy Clark, who's a 6'4" safety for Michigan.

It's tough to make any call on him given the QB transition. When he was a Cal commit, Cal folks were impressed:

Physically, he's long and lean; and he really doesn't have a frame suited for some of the physicality required of a safety. … great acceleration. His ability to turn and chase is impressive with his closing speed. His height and long arms help him in press coverage and playing the ball, and he's a willing though unpolished tackler. … his athleticism makes him a natural in pass coverage. …athletically, Washington really is impressive.

Unfortunately, when I think "recent Cal defensive back" good things do not come to mind. This does:

…got to like his height at 6-foot-2, and his rangy frame. Washington won't have an issue covering the big outside receivers. He's got good speed and can cover ground. … Washington shows good change of direction and breaks on the ball quickly.

Can he play cornerback? Nobody really knows.

There is a backup plan. Harbaugh loves to flip guys around and we already have a pretty good idea of what Keith Washington looks like as an offensive player. He looks like Steve Breaston. He looks creepily like Steve Breaston, playing against the top level of Alabama football. Northwestern recruited him as Kain Colter II, except fast(!):

While Washington says he "can come down under center" if he has to, his strengths are working from the shotgun and running the zone-read game -- much like Kain Colter did for Northwestern over the last four years.

Unlike Colter, however, Washington is a burner with "low 4.4, high 4.3 speed."

Michigan's slot receivers in spring were playing corner and then booted off the team (Norfleet), a true freshman probably better suited to the outside (Cole), and various walk-ons. There is room for a Steve Breaston even in Harbaugh's world of thud.

If it turns out the transition to corner is not going very well, the obvious thing to do is stick him at receiver and see if he can also go to work. I'm not sayin'… I'm just sayin'. I am sayin' that I wonder how seriously we should take any of these positional designations given the propensity of Harbaugh to try anyone anywhere. This goes double for Washington, a quintessential ATH recruit.

Get him in, guess at a position, and let marinate.

*[This is the largest classification. Alabama just added it last January for reasons unknown. There are only 32 teams in it, which seems small for a high school division.]

“That’s a tough one. I’d probably have to pick Usher’s ‘Let it Burn.’”

Can you sing?

“Oh yeah.”

Please make this happen.

Why Steve Breaston or James Rogers? If you are going off the high school film that does not look like it was filmed underwater, Keith Washington looks like a clone of high school Steve Breaston, who was a dual-threat quarterback and all-around athletic terror. Washington has the same kind of foot-in-the-ground shallow cut Breaston did, and has the ability to maintain speed through it like Breaston did.

As a defensive back the closest comparison I have is not a positive one, but James Rogers was a tall, very fast offensive player in high school with a modest recruiting profile who many people thought would be a defensive back. He bounced back and forth between offense and defense before becoming a starting corner on Rich Rodriguez's first defense. He could not flip the ol' hips very well and was constantly picked upon.

Morgan Trent is another potential comparison here. Trent had a higher profile as a recruit; in college he ended up being a very fast straight-line guy who couldn't change direction well enough to thwart Troy Smith.

Guru Reliability: Moderate. Healthy and high profile player, but a major position switch clouds matters. Also no camps after a few early combines—very possible that was a reason his ranking was bleah.

Variance: High. This is an Ikea prospect who you must assemble yourself.

Ceiling: High. 6'2" cornerback with excellent speed.

General Excitement Level: Moderate. Love the go-get-it mentality, love the athleticism, worry about major transition and ability to add a bunch of weight and maintain said athleticism. I prefer him as an offensive player.

Projection: One of the surest redshirts on the team. Washington needs to add weight, move to a position he either hasn't played ever (receiver) or hasn't played in a long time (cornerback), and then add more weight.

After that your guess is as good as anyone's. He could end up a starting corner, he could be a slot receiver, he could never find a home and fade away.

Creepy divorce metaphor aside, this is likely to please everyone. We have a Best Of Adidas post being assembled and it's a doozy. Around here we started calling them the Only Incompetent Germans after Glenn Robinson's jersey exploded in a cloud of fibers for the third or fourth time.

Nike's not perfect—in fact the only Nike tag we have on the blog is "nike would like you to wear this aerodynamic fez"—but the athletes really wanted Nike according to internal surveys. A lot of the fans really wanted Nike according to Sam Webb, who would know. Even those who were pretty indifferent to the brand of clothing they're wearing scoffed at the many and diverse fashion crimes perpetrated on the best uniforms in sports. And so the department acquiesced even though there were reports that the Adidas offer was worth significantly more.

Yes: the athletic department made a decision based on something other than making revenue go up. Even if you don't really care what symbol is on Michigan's jerseys, that has to feel good.

Hello, I'm back, and very thankful to have missed the dumbest week of the offseason thus far. The long-promised recruiting mailbag is here, and I'll have a recruiting roundup tomorrow once I've caught up.

There may be in-class attrition. It probably won't include Mike Onwenu. [Rapai]

It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. Michigan already sits at 21 commits in the class and they have several positions of need yet to fill: wide receiver, tight end, defensive tackle, BUCK linebacker, cornerback, probably one more offensive lineman, and maybe an additional inside linebacker. They may even take a kicker, though Quinn Nordin's recruitment is trending towards Penn State. That's seven or so more potential spots. If they find a way to make the numbers work, this class could conceivably reach 28 players, with the coaches backdating a few early enrollees to fit under the yearly cap of 25.

Can Michigan make this work without oversigning? I think so. Brian covered part of the numbers outlook in his recent mailbag, noting two areas where scholarships should open up:

There are 4-6 current redshirt juniors who are candidates for unrenewed fifth years. They'll have spent four years in the program and will leave with degrees in hand.

There are a couple potential medical redshirts, not including the now known to the public effort to get Ondre Pipkins to agree to take one. Pipkins, a senior, wouldn't have affected the 2016 scholarship count regardless.

There's another huge factor: the impending depth chart crunch. Michigan is set to have seven scholarship quarterbacks on the roster in 2016; they'll also have seven scholarship running backs. That's 14 players for two starting positions (three if M goes RB-by-committee), and there's a good chance underclassmen pass an upperclassman or two. Depending upon how the depth chart shakes out, there could be 3-4 transfer candidates just from those two position groups. As the pecking order is established in fall camp and during the season, some players will look for playing time elsewhere.

In addition, I looked at Stanford's 2010 class for a reason. Any class that fills this many spots this early is likely to have attrition, and while Stanford's 2010 class had an unusual number of decommitments even for Harbaugh, it'd surprise me more if Michigan held onto every current commit than if they lost at least a couple. David Reese is looking at Louisville and Notre Dame. Dele' Harding camped at West Virginia recently. In-class attrition should be expected.

For those looking at the number of highly ranked targets on Michigan's board and wondering where those spots will come from, that should help provide an answer, as should this: always remember that fans tend to overestimate their team's chances of landing top-ranked commits. Is Michigan going to pull in some four-stars and perhaps even a five-star or two down the stretch? Yes. Are they going to add Rashan Gary, both Kellys, Dontavious Jackson, Terrance Davis, Ahmir Mitchell, and Nasier Upshur to round out the class? No. While Michigan is in very good shape with each of those prospects, anyone who's followed recruiting for a while knows that a class never wraps up so neatly, let alone so spectacularly—especially when dealing with so many out-of-region prospects.

At this point, I'm not too concerned about the numbers. There's still an entire fall camp and football season to play before Signing Day, and Michigan is in their first year under a demanding coach with a markedly different style from his predecessor. If M has to "free up" a half-dozen scholarships in February, we have a problem; I don't anticipate this being a problem.

Dave: What future non-conference game are you most looking forward to?

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The Responses:

Seth: As the usual question-asker I rarely get a chance to take the obvious response, in this case the 2020 trip to Washingon. So I'm gonna celebrate my good fortune with a top five list:

1. Seattle. Many U.S. cities are basically the same buildings, chain restaurants and NFL team just rearranged. Seattle is one of the few who are not that. Imagine San Francisco's waterfront, Brooklyn-like neighborhoods, and Portland's love affair with the 1990s. Then add 1000% more polar fleece, and coffee so good you should probably avoid it lest you spend the rest of your life as a Whole Foods shopper.

Seattle pier [me]

2. Michigan-Washington = classic football. In addition to the once-a-decade home-and-home we've been scheduling since the 1950s, we've met the Huskies four times in Pasadena, including Bo's first win:

(the only time in history "who wants it more" was probably a thing)

It's rare enough to keep them exotic, and familiar enough for a wealth of subplots, like the 1983 game where Michigan learned The Wave.*

3. Washington fans. Like other schools you can name with a rich football tradition, a healthy respect for academics, and who have survived Ty Willingham, Huskies fans are surprisingly tolerable. They remember Marlin Jackson like we remember Omar Lowe.

4. Gameday should be pretty good. It's one of the older programs in a gorgeous stadium on a gorgeous old campus in early September. In 2020 Chris Petersen would be in his seventh year, Harbaugh his sixth, provided both survive until then. No bets that far in the future are sure things in college football, but the two former quarterbacks are likely enough to have their respective programs consistently ranked by then.

5. Family. The moment the news broke last year that Michigan was going to Washington I secured a promise from the wife that we'd be there, then called my particularly awesome cousin in Seattle to book our room. This thing is stone; family members have received notification to keep all weddings and pregnancies clear.

* Michael Florek covered the history of this for HTTV '14. Short version is the Huskies stole it from some Vancouver hockey fans, then M cheerleaders picked it up on the '83 visit and taught it to Michigan Stadium, where the bowl was a natural fit (and Bo blew one). Michigan fans took it to Tiger Stadium in the 1984 World Series, and it went national from there.